At 11:30 a.m. Beijing time on December 30, the NBA regular season matchup is in full swing, the Los Angeles Clippers sit at home, facing the Memphis Grizzlies, before this game, the Clippers have a record of 18 wins and 12 losses, ranking 4th in the West. At the beginning of the season, the Clippers slumped after welcoming Harden, suffering a wave of 6 consecutive defeats and once fell to the bottom of the West, with the gradual integration of Harden and the team, Leonard's strong outbreak, the Clippers quickly stopped the decline, from 6 consecutive defeats to a wave of 9 consecutive wins, and the ranking also soared to the top 4 in the West. In response, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue praised the players in an interview: "James Harden is a great player, he always gets the ball to the right people, he always makes the right judgments. At the same time, his height allows him to observe the situation on the field from the opponent's head. ”
"James Harden can play better, he's very important to us and he always makes his teammates happy. Leonard's efficiency has gotten higher, his speed can be improved, Westbrook is always full of energy on the court, and don't forget Zubac, who directs his teammates to defend on the baseline, reminds me of Kevin Garnett in Boston. However, the only bad news for the Clippers now is that Xiaoka was hit in the thigh by Greens in the previous game and continues to miss this game. On the other side, the Grizzlies, before this game, ranked 13th in the West with a 10-20 record, although the record is not good, but since Morant returned and played, they have not lost, won a wave of 4 consecutive wins, see if the Clippers can extinguish Morant's arrogance.
In this game, the two sides are in the starting lineup, the Clippers sent George, Zubac, Harden, Mann and Coffey, and the Grizzlies sent Morant, Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr., Smart and Biyombo. At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Biyombo jumped to win, the Grizzlies took the lead in getting the ball, Smart made a mid-range dry pull-up jumper and scored the first goal of the game, Jalen Jr. chased a three-pointer at the top of the arc into the net, George's free throw line big two-point shot also opened for the Clippers, Coffey and Jalen Jr. then scored three points against the Clippers, Biyombo Basket held high and easily wiped the board, Zubac was not to be outdone, the inside ate the cake and quickly hit a ball, Harden scored 5 points inside and outside, Mann flew to pick up the basket and hit it steadily, the two teams started a tug-of-war in the first quarter of the game, and the score alternately led。
Entering the second half of the first quarter of the game, the Clippers began to exert their strength, Harden dreamed of returning to the peak and even had a three-point shot, Wei Shao was not to be outdone, and he also dreamed of returning to the peak, and actually understood with Harden, and the air relay was connected, and the audience and fans shouted: Youth is back! At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led the Grizzlies by 8 points 33-25. At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, Westbrook's stiff jump shot outside the three-point line pierced the basket and helped the Clippers take the next city, Theis flew in the paint area and threw two points, Aldama hit the basket high, Powell forced the basket to cause damage, and stood on the free throw line to make two free throws, and the Clippers once took a lead of more than 10 points. However, in the middle of the second quarter, the Clippers still gave a chance and fell into a scoring drought that lasted for more than 4 minutes, and the Grizzlies caught up with the score with a small surge.
In the last minute of the first half, Harden made a three-point foul, all three free throws, and Mann pressed the basketball on the whistle, and the halftime was over, and the Clippers led the Grizzlies by five points at 59-54. In the first half, Wei Shao played reasonably with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and Harden connected the whole team with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists. At the beginning of the second half of the game, Yibian fought again, Zubac made a strong rebound in the restricted area to make a layup 2+1 to help the Clippers go down first, George fired a mid-range shot into the center of the net, Smart quickly responded to a wing three-pointer, George was not to be outdone, chased three guns and suddenly sent cold arrows, George who was powered off in the first half was activated again, and repeatedly hit inside and outside shots, scoring 12 points in a single quarter, leading the Clippers to regain the initiative, Zubac took what he wanted under the basket.
The Clippers led the Grizzlies by 14 points in the third quarter, and the difference between the two teams once came to about 20 points, and after the third quarter, the Clippers led the Grizzlies by 19 points at 94-75. In the final quarter, the Grizzlies did not give up, and the main bench players were all soldiers, playing a wave of 15-4 to narrow the difference to within 10 points, but the Clippers quickly adjusted their state and won the game steadily, and in the end, the Clippers defeated the Grizzlies 117-106, and Morant returned to the first defeat.
In terms of statistics, on the Grizzlies side, Jaren Jackson Jr. had 22 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, Marcus Smart had 22 points and 3 steals, Ja Morant had 19 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists, Desmond Bane had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, Sandy Aldama had 12 points and 5 rebounds, and Vince Williams had 5 points and 5 assists. On the Clippers side, Paul George 23 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, James Harden 16 points, 4 rebounds, 13 assists and 3 blocks, Ivica Zubac 15 points and 20 rebounds, Russell Westbrook 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Norman Powell 13 points and 6 rebounds, Amir Coffey 13 points, Terence Mann 11 points and 3 rebounds, Kobe Brown 7 points and 4 rebounds, Daniel Theis 5 points and 2 blocks. It is worth mentioning that after this game, Harden's career total assists in the regular season reached 7,220, rising to 16th all-time.